Chapter 15: Alias Chen Yuan, Setting Off for Star Luo
The cover of night is the best concealment. Yu Yuanchen—or rather, at this moment, he had changed his name to "Chen Yuan" was like a shadow blending into the darkness, silently distancing himself from Dragon City. He did not choose any means of transportation, relying purely on his formidable physique and exquisite control over Soul Power to speed through the wilderness and mountain forests. His speed was not at all inferior to a galloping horse, and it allowed him to better avoid the eyes and ears on the official roads.
The first destination he chose was the Star Luo Empire.
The southeast of the Heaven Dou Empire was the territory where the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and Black Flame Flood Dragon families had operated for many years, with informants everywhere. No matter how careful he was, the risk of exposure would increase day by day if he stayed for a long time. In contrast, the Star Luo Empire and Heaven Dou had a long-standing competition, and the influence of the Dragon Family's forces there was weak, making it an ideal place to hide and train.
He did not head straight for the heart of the Star Luo Empire. Instead, he planned a circuitous route, traveling along the buffer zone of the border between the two countries. Sometimes he would slip into Heaven Dou territory to gather information, and sometimes he would enter Star Luo territory to familiarize himself with the environment, just like a true traveling Soul Master, without arousing suspicion.
He changed out of the blue martial attire that symbolized his Family and put on an inconspicuous set of gray cloth clothes, covered by a semi-worn cloak with a large hood that hid most of his face. He stabilized his Soul Power fluctuations at around Rank 51, showing the status of a Soul King which was enough to deter most petty thugs without being too eye-catching. As for the commotion that the colors of his Soul Rings might cause, he simply decided that unless it was a life-or-death situation, he would never easily release his Martial Soul. To the outside World, his disguised Martial Soul was the "Thunder Armored Dragon Lizard," a sub-dragon species of Soul Beast with decent lightning attributes and defensive power. This perfectly explained his robust physique and the occasional leakage of lightning-attribute Soul Power fluctuations, while being far less dazzling than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
"Chen Yuan..." he whispered this temporary name, his gaze calm and rippleless. From then on, the continent lost a brilliant Genius of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan named Yu Yuanchen, and gained an anonymous traveling Soul Master named Chen Yuan.
The journey was not always smooth sailing. The continent was vast, with Soul Masters and Mortals mixed together; there was light, and there were shadows.
On this day, he passed through a small town on the border of the Heaven Dou Empire called "Greystone Town." The town was somewhat prosperous because it produced a hard-textured greystone, but this also attracted the greed of many forces. Chen Yuan originally intended to take a short break in the town to restock on dry rations and fresh water, but inadvertently witnessed a scene that made him frown slightly.
In the small plaza at the center of the town, a young Soul Master wearing a luxurious silk robe with an arrogant expression was leading several guards, haughtily berating a pair of commoners who appeared to be father and daughter. The girl was about fifteen or sixteen years old with delicate features, but she was currently pale with fright, clutching her father's arm tightly. The old father hunched his back, bowing incessantly to apologize, with several pieces of shattered greystone scattered at his feet.
"Old thing! Where are your eyes? Didn't you see this young master coming? You smashed the jade bottle I just bought, what do you say to that?" The young Soul Master's voice was sharp, and the Soul Power fluctuations vaguely emanating from him were around Rank 30. Among his guards, there was also a Spirit Ancestor.
"Lord Soul Master, please forgive me. This old man really didn't do it on purpose... It was... it was you who suddenly turned around..." the old father defended himself with a trembling voice.
"You dare talk back?!" The young Soul Master's eyes turned sharp, and he raised his hand to deliver a slap. Soul Power flickered; if this palm strike landed, an ordinary person would likely lose half their life.
Quite a few townspeople were gathered around, but no one dared to step forward to intervene. Their eyes held only fear and numbness. Clearly, this sort of thing was not happening for the first time.
Chen Yuan's (Yu Yuanchen's) eyes under the hood turned slightly cold. He was not a pure idealist and knew well the Law of the jungle in this World where the strong prey on the weak. However, seeing such a thing as using one's status as a Soul Master to wantonly bully commoners who had no power to resist, the sense of justice belonging to a youth—which had not yet been completely eroded—was still touched within his heart.
He did not show himself immediately. Instead, like a Gui Mei, he circled around to a quiet alleyway behind the young Soul Master. Just as the Soul Master's slap was about to fall, a tiny, almost imperceptible purple electric spark shot out from the shadows of the alley entrance like a venomous snake, accurately sinking into the back of the young Soul Master's neck.
The young Soul Master's movements suddenly froze. His raised palm stopped in mid-air, and the malice in his eyes was instantly replaced by confusion and an indescribable sense of paralysis. Then, his body went limp, and he collapsed directly to the ground, foaming at the mouth and unconscious.
"Young Master!"
"What happened?!"
The guards were shocked and hurriedly went forward to support and examine him. However, they couldn't find any external injuries; they only felt that the Soul Power inside the young master's body was in chaos, as if he had suffered some kind of strong Spiritual shock and lightning paralysis. They looked around in terror, but saw only the spectating commoners and the empty street, unable to find the person who had acted at all.
"There... there's an expert!" The Spirit Ancestor guard's face turned pale. Realizing they had kicked a steel plate, he didn't dare stay any longer. He quickly carried the unconscious young master on his back and led the other guards in a panicked escape from the town, not even bothering to pick up the fragments of the "jade bottle" on the ground.
The townspeople in the plaza looked at each other, not knowing what had happened, but with the oppressors gone, they finally breathed a sigh of relief. The father and daughter felt as if they had walked through the gates of hell. They embraced and wept, bowing repeatedly toward the empty air to thank the unknown benefactor.
Chen Yuan had already quietly left the town as if he had never appeared. To him, this was just a small interlude on his journey. As for whether that young Soul Master would retaliate against the father and daughter—heh, having suffered this calamity, as long as they weren't stupid, they would flee far away even if it meant leaving their hometown. Even if they didn't run, it had nothing to do with him. He wasn't a nanny; saving their lives was already doing his utmost, and it was impossible to consider everything for them. He had no intention of becoming famous, and even less desire to get involved in unnecessary trouble. Solving it secretly allowed him to punish evil while preserving himself, which was the best choice. As for that young Soul Master, he had acted with restraint, only using a thread of extremely condensed lightning Soul Power to shock his mind, causing him to faint and leave some aftereffects (such as occasional Spiritual unrest during Cultivation for the next few months), which counted as a small lesson.
Similar things happened several times during the subsequent journey. When he encountered noble Soul Masters riding horses to trample farmland, or bully Soul Masters forcibly collecting protection fees and oppressing merchants, if it was within his ability and wouldn't expose himself, he would choose to act from the shadows. Sometimes he would silently use a pebble to break a horse's leg; sometimes he would use electric field perception to create chaos to help people escape; and sometimes, just like in Greystone Town, he would use exquisite Soul Power control to make the villains temporarily lose their ability to move.
He always strictly adhered to the principle of "hiding in the crowd." Like a calm observer, he only plucked the threads of fate from the shadows, never placing himself under the spotlight in the open.
However, for the struggles between Soul Masters—whether it was Sect vendettas, profit disputes, or simple clashes of ego—his choice was entirely different.
Once, he passed by a mountain forest and happened to come across two groups of Soul Masters fighting over a discovered Spiritual Plant. Both sides had five or six people, with strengths ranging from Soul Elder to Spirit Ancestor. The fight was quite intense, with Soul skills lights flashing everywhere and trees being snapped.
Chen Yuan only took a distant glance and then detoured without any hesitation, having not the slightest intention of getting involved. He even deliberately restrained his aura to avoid being noticed by either of the warring parties.
Another time, in a tavern in a small border city, two groups of mercenaries escalated a verbal dispute into a physical fight. The tavern was instantly in chaos, with tables and chairs flying and low-level Martial Soul Abilities being fired randomly. Other diners either fled in panic or hid in corners shivering.
Chen Yuan had originally been sitting by the window dining quietly. When the battle spread to his side, he did not step in to stop either party. Instead, his figure was like a swimming fish; with a few clever dodges in the chaotic crowd, he was "naturally" pushed toward the tavern's main door by the surging tide of people. Then, he stepped out, leaving this place of trouble. The whole process was smooth and natural, as if he were just a lucky, quick-reacting ordinary passerby, not attracting the attention of the fighting parties at all.
He implemented the philosophy of "silently protecting everyone in front of him while hiding in the crowd" to the extreme. The grudges between Soul Masters are hard to judge as right or wrong; rashly intervening could very likely bring trouble upon oneself and expose one's tracks. His primary task was to train safely and improve himself, not to act as an arbiter of justice.
In this way, he headed west all the way, crossing the vast border provinces of the Heaven Dou Empire, and finally officially stepped into the territory of the Star Luo Empire more than a month later.
The landscape of the Star Luo Empire was quite different from Heaven Dou. The local customs here seemed more martial and fierce, and the urban architectural style was also more rugged and grand. The Imperial Royal Family, the Dai Family, and the Zhu Family maintained a joint rule through marriage, with a stable power structure. Their control over the country seemed somewhat stronger than that of the Heaven Dou Empire.
After entering the Star Luo Empire, Chen Yuan clearly felt a different atmosphere. The threat from the Dragon Family was almost nonexistent here, which allowed his mind to relax quite a bit. He began to pay more attention to the local customs, power distribution, and also tried to contact some local Soul Masters to gather news and understand this unfamiliar land.
He still maintained a low profile. In taverns or exchanges where Soul Masters gathered, he would often choose a corner, order some simple food and wine, and silently listen to the surrounding conversations, gathering useful information—about the major Sects of Star Luo, about dangerous Secret Realms, and about recent hot events.
He heard that several remarkable geniuses seemed to have emerged in the younger generation of the Star Luo Empire's royal Family; he heard that the Fasinuo Province bordering Star Luo had been a bit unstable recently, with rumors of evil Soul Masters appearing; he also heard that the "Thunder Desert" to the west of the Star Luo Empire had recently shown strange phenomena, attracting many lightning-attribute Soul Masters to explore...
All this information was silently noted in his heart as a reference for planning his next move.
On this day, he arrived at a medium-sized city in the northeastern part of the Star Luo Empire—"Gengxin City." This city was famous for its mineral resources and forging industry. There were many Soul Masters in the city, and major chambers of commerce and Sects all had outposts here, making information readily available.
Chen Yuan paid the city entry fee and followed the flow of people into this hard city dominated by black and gray tones. He planned to stay here for a few days to purchase some supplies and also to see if he could find more detailed information about suitable places for his training.
He did not know that in this seemingly ordinary city, an unexpected storm was quietly approaching him. A hidden dragon conceals its tracks in the marketplace, but the trajectories of fate often converge inadvertently. His journey in Star Luo was destined not to remain peaceful forever.